SC asks WhatsApp and FB to file an Affidavit specifying if they are sharing any information

Recently back Supreme Court passed much-awaited verdict on Aadhaar Privacy Case that Right to Privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

“Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty Guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution”.

A petition was filed in the court against the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar project primarily against the biometric details of a person which when fall into wrong hands will be an invasion of privacy.

Another petition was filed by student led by Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi arguing that the data sharing (This data includes photographs, messages shared by the users of these applications) platform such as Facebook and WhatsApp is also a violation of the citizens’ right to privacy. The petitioner also claimed that the data collected by WhatsApp was used for the commercial purposes.

In the hearing of the case, senior advocate and Counsel for WhatsApp and Facebook Kapil Sibal argued that the instant messaging platform does not share any personal data of its users with third parties as it is secured by end – end encryption. He said only four details, ‘telephone number, type of device, last access of the user and registration date,’ is shared.

The petitioners who challenged the WhatsApp Privacy Policy also claimed that WhatsApp was sharing its data with Facebook and several other third-party entities.

Hence, the five-judge constitution bench directed these instant messaging platforms WhatsApp and Facebook to file an affidavit specifying whether they were sharing the data with any third-party entity within four weeks.

The apex court said it will ponder over the affidavit which is yet to be filed by the social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp and then come to a decision.